- MENU
- HOME
- SEARCH
- WORLD
- MAIN
- AFRICA
- ASIA
- BALKANS
- EUROPE
- LATIN AMERICA
- MIDDLE EAST
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Benelux
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Poland
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- USA
- BUSINESS
- WEALTH
- STOCKS
- TECH
- HEALTH
- LIFESTYLE
- ENTERTAINMENT
- SPORTS
- RSS
- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Robert Koehler
Legalization of pot (in Colorado and Washington state), a big hurray for gay marriage (in Maine), lots of progressive women in the
And Barack Obama, the designated Lesser Evil, clobbered Mitt Romney in the swing states, despite Republican efforts to keep likely Democrats from voting there. I went to bed last night feeling an irrational joy, an enormous inner cry of relief, that the neocons and right-wing crazies were held at bay for four more years.
Now what?
In the dawn's early light, the joy is ebbing. Last night's victory high is wearing off, especially as I read the banal analyses and balanced blather in the mainstream media and realize that all the crucial issues that were off the table during the election season -- drone assassination, the military budget, climate change, corporate hegemony,
As Laura Flanders said last night on Democracy Now!, "The only thing that has ever brought about change in this country is social movements."
So this is the thought I nurture the day after Election 2012, in the wake of disaster averted. The next four years promise mostly more of the same, politically speaking -- including, I fear, the rightward drift of the
I sat at my computer on Tuesday night, listening for six hours to the discussion on Democracy Now!, and was therefore spared having to endure the incoming election results in a mainstream, values-bereft context. That helped me consolidate a perspective on the election and stay connected to the larger context in which we live and breathe.
And one of the points around which there was a sort of consensus among the Democracy Now! guests -- and the sort of thing that the mainstream media are incapable of noticing -- was that much of the American electorate is far more progressive than either of the major parties, despite the fact that our political system has bounced issues of global importance from the political arena and criminally marginalized third parties.
For instance, Ralph Nader pointed out that third-party candidates advanced numerous positions, such as universal healthcare, that are far more in step with majority opinion than either the Democrats or Republicans.
Dennis Kucinich, declaring, that "there needs to be a third force in American politics," told
And Stein, pointing out that support for the
Meanwhile, Rocky Anderson, former mayor of Salt Lake City, who ran for president on the newly formed
Flanders said, "We've watched the
Not his progressive base, she noted, but the tea party -- that is to say, an amalgam of big corporate money, covert corporate agenda and old-timey, populist racism. This sort of opposition is not going to challenge drone warfare, fracking or the looming "grand bargain" devastation of
But Bob Herbert, while critical of much of the Obama agenda, applauded his victory, saying: "This is a wonderful election to begin building a movement on.
"The public," he said, "is out in front of Obama and Democrats." Pointing out the adversity many voters endured in order to cast their ballots this year, he said, "This means they want change. The energy of this election needs to be harnessed."
And this is where I sit a day later, wondering if that energy is already beginning to dissipate. Perhaps not. Progressive values, focused and sharpened by adversity, penetrated this year's election, despite a system built to keep them out.
Climate change, financial devastation and the cruel excesses of militarism are not going away.
There is an America out there unafraid to face these realities, waiting for its political birth.
AMERICAN POLITICS
WORLD | AFRICA | ASIA | EUROPE | LATIN AMERICA | MIDDLE EAST | UNITED STATES | ECONOMICS | EDUCATION | ENVIRONMENT | FOREIGN POLICY | POLITICS
An America Yet to Be Born | Politics
© Tribune Media Services, Inc